Ford has designed a range of robot-driven cars to test for safety - just weeks after its chairman announced that self-driving vehicles are closer than we think.

The robots can accelerate, steer and even stop for passing pedestrians or other obstacles due to a series of built-in cameras, sensors and GPS trackers.

They are also able to carry out more rigorous tests than humans and and put the vans through the equivalent of 10 years of wear and tear in a single sitting driving on specially-designed courses - humans are only allowed to drive these rough courses once a day.

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Ford's automated robot van. Ford is the first car maker to test drive vehicles using robots. Engineers worked with Autonomous Solutions to build the robots capable of subjecting vans to up to 10 years wear and tear in a single sitting. Humans are only allowed to carry out the rigorous tests once a day

THE RISE OF SELF-DRIVING CARS

Google officially launched its range of Self-Driving Cars in 2010, however the company was not given a licence to test the
technology on roads until May last year.

Idealab's founder Bill Gross tweeted a picture of what Google's self-driving cars see when it makes a left turn in May.

It showed the car's 360-degree field of view and bore a striking resemblance to the view the Terminator sees in the classic sci-fi films.

The cars can analyse the road ahead, watch out for hazards, speed up and slow down without any human input.

In March 2012, Google tested just how autonomous their self-driving cars were by getting a blind people to drive the vehicle.

Steve Mahan is 95 cent blind.

He successfully drove the self-driving car to buy a taco and pick up dry cleaning around Morgan Hill in California.

A Google employee sat with Mr Mahan in the Toyota Prius but didn't help him drive.

At the end of the journey, he tells his passengers: 'You guys get out, I've got places I have to go.'

Ford is the first car maker to develop robotic technology capable of driving vehicles on the company's high-impact on-and off-road testing sites.

It claims that the robots are ideal for the job because they are well suited for durability test conditions that would prove too taxing for human drivers.

The new technology was most recently used to test Ford's new full-size Transit van due to launch in 2014.

The robotic Ford vans are fitted with a module that controls steering, acceleration and braking. It is set to follow a pre-programmed course and the vehicle is tracked using cameras in a central control room, pictured. If the vehicle strays off course, engineers can correct the van's route and restart the test

By making the robots drive these courses repeatedly the engineers can subject the vehicles to up to the equivalent of 10 years of daily
driving abuse in just a single sitting.

All North American Ford trucks must pass these durability tests before they're are certified for customer use.

Dave Payne, Manager of Vehicle Development Operations at Ford, said: 'Some of the tests we do on our commercial trucks for North America are so strenuous that we limit the exposure time for human drivers.

'The challenge is completing testing to meet vehicle development time lines while keeping our drivers comfortable.

'Robotic testing allows us to do both. We accelerate durability testing while simultaneously increasing the productivity of our other programs by redeploying drivers to those areas, such as noise level and vehicle dynamics testing.

The cab of the robotic Ford vans are fitted with cameras. The top control module, pictured left, changes gear, steers and applies the handbrake. The foot controls, right, can press the clutch and apply the brakes

Until now, testing speeds and repetitions for specific scenarios were limited due to the health and safety restrictions placed on human drivers.

Humans are only allowed to drive certain rigorous courses once a day.

The use of robots now makes this testing faster and more efficient, allowing an unlimited number of repeats until Ford engineers are satisfied with the results.

These robots also can help Ford develop more challenging durability tests and build tougher trucks.

Ford engineers worked with Utah-based Autonomous Solutions to design and manufacture the software and components for the autonomous test vehicles.

Ford recently used robotic vans to test its new Transit van, pictured. All testing is carried out at the company's Proving Grounds in Michigan, U.S and courses have been designed to be deliberately rough in order to test the vans' durability. All North American Ford trucks must pass these durability tests before they're can be sold